Art of upsetting and shaping metal bars



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. H. SELLERS.

ART OF UPSETTING AND SHAPING METAL BARS. N0. 372,571. Patented. NOV. 1, 1887.

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(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 2.

G. H. SELLERS.

ART OF UPSBTTING AND SHAPING METAL BARS. No. 372,571. Patented Nov. 1, 1887.

WITNESSES/ INVENTOR.

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(No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet. 3. G. H. SELLERS.

ART OF UPSETTING AND SHAPING METAL BARS. No. 372,571. atented Nov. 1 1887.

FIG. 7.

WITNESSES. INVENTOR- .jmmm Cw. 11.156444.

UNITED STATES ATENT Eric.

GEORGE H. SELLERS, OF RIDLEY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE EDGE MOOR IRON COMPANY, OF NE\V CASTLE COUNTY, DELAW'ARE.

ART OF UPSETTING AND SHAPING METAL BARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 372,571, dated November 1, 1887.

Application tiled June 25, 1887. Serial No. 242.536. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. SELLERS, of Ridley Park, in the county of Delaware and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Upsetting and Shaping Metal Bars, of which improvements the following is a specification.

In a patent for improvement in upsetting and shaping metal granted to \Villiam Sellers 1 and George H. Sellers, under the date of April 24, 1883, No. 276,29l, certain meansandmeth ods were shown and described for accomplish ing this object-to wit, upsetting metal bars without piling and without fol ling-pointing 1 out as an essential feature that when the bar requires thickening as well as spreading the thickening and spreading operations must be successive instead ofsimultaneous, and in the same patent certain means were shown and described whereby the bar would be prevented from bending laterally under theupsettingpressure. In the Patent No. 291,098, dated January 1, 188i, granted to the same parties,' for the method and means therein described for thickening and spreading such bars simultaneously instead ofsuccessively,as in the be fore-mentioned former patent, the same means are shown and described, whereby the bar would be prevented from bending laterally under the upsettirig-pressure. In upsetting and shaping metal bars heretofore to form eyebars for bridges or analogous structures the shaping operation has been performed in adie of the proper form and dimensions from which the surplus metal could flow only in the line of the bar,and consequently it was necessary to cut the bars to the exact length required before the second or last eye was forged, and whether the thickening and spreading was effected successively or simultaneously such bars have always heretofore been very much thickened, in order that a large amount of spreading would result from flattening them in a die of theproper form and dimensions. This 5 flattening operation requires that the metal shall be very hot to enable it to flow with facility, and with iron bars, the final treatment being at a welding temperature, this process produced excellent results; but with steel bars 0 it is essential that the final work shall be given at a low red heat; and to effect the best results the amount of this work must be such as to produce at the very least a measurable disturbance of the whole mass treated. It is impossible with this metal at the proper temperature to effect the necessary reduction in thickness by subjecting the whole surface to pressure in a die, and pressures upon smaller similar areas within a die fail, because the plunger which transmits them cannot be main- ()0 tained. Recourse is then had to thestcam-hammer and to shifting the piece to be forged so as to treat the whole surface by successive blows without confining it in a die; but it is impossible with this metal to accomplish even this without reheating after upsetting, and frequently several reheatings are required. These reheatings so near the end of the process are under the control of workmen often ignorant of and generally unappreciative of the danger which may result from finishing at a high heat, and of such defects no evidence will remain which the engineer can detect without testing to destruction. Consequently there is adegree of risk and uncertainty about steel eye-bars made in this way which renders such a process unfit for use upon this metal.

The object of my present improvement is to spread and shape bars ofiron or ofsteel at one upsetting operation and to effect a simulta- 8o neous thickening, spreading, and shaping at one heat without bending the bar, so as to form sinuous folds.

It is a further object of my improvement to provide dies in which these sirmtltaneous operations can be effected.

It is a further object of my improvementto straighten the upset portion of the bar and bring it to the requisite thickness by successive lines of pressure upon limited areas and 0 without blows.

It is a further object of my invention to provide such thickness of metal when flat bars are to be upset that the bars will not bend laterally under the upsetting-pressure, and that 5 a nearly uniform pressure for the same diameter of eye may be maintained whether the bars are thick or thin, in proportion to the diameter of their eyes; and to these ends my invent-ion consists in thickening, spreading,

and shaping bars of iron or of steel at one operation by upsetting in dies provided with a lateral outlet for surplus metal.

It further consists in distorting a portion of a flatbarin such manner that a flat side thereof shall be curved transversely or otherwise pro vided with additional guiding-lines longitudinally, and then upsetting this distorted portion of the bar between dies, the operating-surfaces of which are so arranged as to support the bar in three or more lines.

It further consists in combining with such dies shaping cheek-pieces fixed relatively to each other and a shaping upsetting-plunger,

whereby the edges of the bar may be shaped to the desired form as the bar is upset and guided within the dies.

It further consists in providing a pair of rolls between which the upset portion of the bar can be passed back and forth after it has been upset, the upset straightened, and the thickness reduced to that required.

It further consists in heating so much oftwo or more fiat bars as is to be operated upon to the requisite temperature, then placing this heated portion of the bars in a pile within spreading-dies with their flat surfaces parallel to the plancof the upset, then closing the spreading-dies, then upsetting the pile, and then separating the pile into the bars which formed it. t

In the accompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, Figure 1 is asectional side elevation of the upsetting-dies and shaping cheek-pieces. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same. Fig. 3 is aplan of the lower die, showing the shaping cheek-pieces in position thereon and the end of the shaping upsettingplungcr. Fig. 4 is aside elevation of the distorting-bar. Fig; 5 is a sectional end view of the same. Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the rollingmachine for finishing the upset ends of the bars, and Fig. 7 is a side view of the same.

The upsetting mechanism best adapted to the application of my present improvements is shown and described in Patent No. 178.966, dated June 20, 1876, granted to me for improvement in machines for welding,upsetting, and shaping iron, and in Patent No. 178,967, dated June 20,1876, granted to William Sellers for improvement in hydraulic apparatus for holding bars of iron against the pressure required to upset them, and the dies I now show in the drawings, herein referred to, are constructedso as to be operated in such a machine; but inasmuch as the construction and operation of such machines are well understood it is unnecessary to give any detailed de scription of them herein.

In the beforement-ioned Patent-,No. 276,291, granted to William Sellers and George H. Sel- 1ers,,spreading-dies for round bars are shown and described, in which the upset may be effected without bending the bar; but the use of such dies was prior to my present invention confined to round or square bars, because only such bars could enter the guiding groove or grooves for maintaining the alignment of the bar under the upsetting-pressure to which the bar was subjected between the upsetting-dies. In the then state of the art it was desirable to thicken all bars materially before spreading them. The thickened bar required that shorter length should be provided for spreading, and with such length no provision was required against lateral bending in flat bars; but with the increasing use of steel, which required a different final treatment from iron, it became very desirable to complete the whole of the work required to form an eye at one heat, so

that thereby the final work must necessarily be performed at a low temperature. To this end, the manufacture of steel eye-bars, the use of the fiattening-dies for the final operation was incompatible, as they required the metal to be at a high temperature, and it became desirable to spread the bar to the required dimensions and shape without increasing the thickness more than would be due to the spring of the dies under the greatpressure to which they would be subjected in the upsetting operation. This thinner upset required a greaterlength of theunsupported bar to be upset-,which I found couli not he eliected in a thin flat bar without greatdange r of bending it laterally, and after very many attempts to remedy this difficulty I finally succeeded by introducing a preliminary operation to'the upsetting one. This preliminary operation consisted in placing the heated flat bar between the spreading dies for round bars, (shown and described in the before-mentioned Patent No.

276,291,) and then placing on top of the tlatbar a distorting bar so shaped on its under side that when the closing pressure was applied to the upper die a portion of the flat bar would beforced into the guidinggroovein the lower upsettingdie. The closing-pressure was then released, the distorting-bar removed, and the dies closed on the distorted bar. Then the upsetting-plunger was operated until-the upsetting operation was completed. The groove formed longitudinally by the distorting-bar was filled by the upsetting operation, so thatthe upset when completed was flat on one side,

while a rib was formed'upon the other.

That this part of the operation may be more fully explained, I now refer to thejdrawings, Fig. 1, in which A is the bottom upsetting-die, its upper side being provided with a bar, d d, sliding freely therein, whereby the thickness of the upsetting-plunger may be increased, as shown and described in the before mentioned patent, No. 291,098, and in this bar d d, Iprovide the longitudinal guidinggroove a. B is the top upsettingdie, which has a plane surface. The distance between the dies Aand B determines the thickness of the upset. The shaping cheek-pieces b and b are placed between the dies A and B and are of the same thickness as the flat bar upon which the upsetting-dies are to operate. This is shown more shape of these cheek-pieces and means for relieving the side pressure thereon after the upset is completed and preparatory to removing the bar from the upsetting-machine,which, as finished, is represented by dotted lines. The shaping cheekpiece b and the relieving-block O are prevented from moving forward when the upsetting-plunger D is operated by the upsettingram, as they are arranged to abut against a rib which is provided for holding the dies against the upsetting-pressure in the n1achine shown in the above-mentioned Patent No. 291,098. The shaping cheek-piece b is sustained laterally by the relieving-block 0 upon surfaces inclined horizontally and against the upsett-ing-pressure by shoulders which abut upon the relievingblocl O.

The distort-iug-barE is shown in side elevation in Fig. 4 and in sectional end view in Fig. 5, and this latter shows the rib e on the under side conforming in shape to the groove a in the bar d d in the lower die, A. The cheek-pieces c c on each side of this distortingbar are for the purpose of locating the rib e on thedistorting-bar in the center line ofthe flat bar to be operated upon, and the center line of this bar is located over the center of the groove a by the concave shape of the upsettingplnnger D, against which the end of the bar is thrust, and by the hydraulic clamps on the outside of the machine, before referred to.

The end of the upsettingplunger D, Fig. 3, is shaped to suit the form of upset intended. The under sideofthis plunger is provided with a rib which fits the groove in the lower die, A, upon which the upsetting plunger rests.

The operation is then as follows: A sufticient portion of the bar to be upset is heated to the required temperature and placed within the upsetting dies, its end resting firmly against the plunger D, so that the center line of the bar shall be over the center line ofthe groove a in the bar (I (Z in thelower die, A. The distorting'harEis then inserted above the llat bar and thrust toward the plunger D until its mo tion is arrested by its eheekpieccs c 0 comingin contact with the plunger D. The closing-pressure is then applied, and the upsetting-dies are closed upon the distorting-bar and flat bar under it. This latter is by this pressure shaped on its underside to fit the groove in the bar (Z d, and on its upperside to tit the distorting-bar E. The closing-pressure is now released, the distorting bar E is with drawn, and the upsetting-dies are again closed, but this time upon the flat bar alone. This closing is limited by the thickness of theshap ing cheek-pieces. The UPSCHll'lg-plQSSlllO, is now applied to the plunger D. which isthereby forced forward the proper distance to give the required shape and size to the upset. surplus metal is forced out laterally between. the ends of the upsetting-plunger l) and the ends of the shaping cheelvpieees b and b, and may be out off as soon as the bar is removed from the machine.

The operation of upsetting around or square Any bar is the same as for a fiat bar, except that the distortingbar is not used, as such round or square bars will enter the guiding-grooves in the upsetting-dies described in the abovel'nentioned Patent No. 276,291. In upsetting such bars the dies may he closed upon the cheek-pieces before the bar to be upset is'inserted. The bar can then be inserted only in the line of the guiding-groove; but it the dies are open when the bar is inserted it must be so placed that it will enter the guiding-groove when the dies are closed. A sulficient portion of the bar to be upset is heated to the required temperature and placed within the upsettingdics, its end resting firmly against the plunger D, so that the amount of metal to be upset may be the more accurately determined, which can be readily fixed by the position of this plunger. The upsetting-pressu re is now applied to the plunger, whichis thereby forced forward to give the required size and shape to the upset. Any surplus metal is forced out laterally between the ends of the upset plunger D and the ends of the shaping cheek'pieccs Z) and b, and maybe cut oif as soon as the bar is removed from the machine. The upsettingplunger 1) is supported by the upsetting-ram and secured to it by dowel-pins to draw it back after the upset has been finished, and the shaping eheekpieces are simply placed in position upon the lower die, the upsetting-pressure retaining them there. Both plunger and cheekpieces can thus be readily changed to suit different sizes of bars or eyes, these being the only parts requiring change for this purpose, and this can be donein a few minutes,whereby a great saving of time is effected over any process for upsetting and shaping such eyes heretofore used. To remove the bar from the machine,the upsctting-plunger D is withdrawn to its original position, the closing-pressure is released from the upsetting dies, and the upper die, B, is raised, when a slight blow from a sledge upon the outer end of the bar will drive it and the eheekpiece b toward the plunger D, which will release the bar from the pressure of the shaping chcelcpieccs. The bar can be then readily withdraw n from the machine. The bar may be otherwise relieved from the pressure of the shaping cheek-pieces, alter the close of the upsetting operation, by providing a recess wider than the eye'in the lower die, A, which recess is covered by the bar (I d during the upsetting operation, for which purpose I this bar (6 (Z must be widened. setting is completed the bar (I (Z may be withdrawn. Then by inserting a blot-k under the upper die, 13, and imparting a closing movement to this die the bar will be forced downward from the shaping check-pieces into the recess below it, t'rom which it can be readily removed. \Vith the construction above indicated the shaping cheek-piece b may be. made thesameasb. It will now be found that the up set end of the [lat bar is somewhat thicker than the original bar, owing to the yielding of the several parts in the machine, and that it has a After the uprib upon its under side corresponding to the groove in the lo wer die. The groove on the upper side of'the fiat bar that was formed by the distorting bar has been filled up by the upsetting operation. The round or square bar will likewise have a rib on its under side, and it now only remains to punch the hole for the pin in the center of the eye and to remove the rib, before referred to. For these purposes the bar is first taken to the flattening-machine, which machine is provided with the necessary guides for centering and the proper punch and dies, as iiwell understood, and the proper size of hole is quickly punched. This operation will to a certain extent distort the surface about the hole and may bend the eye; but-these defects are removed by the same operation that removes the rib, before referred to. For this purpose I provide a pair of rolls operated by provision is made upon the bottom roll, F, to

receive a similar gear-wheel, WV, upon its overhanging end. These two gear wheels mesh with racks H and H, united, respectively, to the outer ends of the cross-head I. These racks are placed diagonallyto avertieal plane in the axes of both rolls. so that a vertical movement of the racks will cause the contactsurfaces of the two rolls to move in the same direction. Securely fastened upon the top of the housings G and G, I provide thehydraulic cylinder K, having a piston and rod, this latter passing out at the top of the cylinder and securely fastened to the cross head I. \Vater under pressure is admitted to the ends of the cylinder K through the pipes f and f, which connect the top and bottom of the cylinder with the valve-chest L. The admission of the pressure-water and its escape from the cylinder after performing its work are regulated and controlled by a balanced piston-valve in the chest L, operated by the handle M, as is well understood. Threaded in the top of each housing I provide heavy compressing screws N, the lower ends of these screws resting upon the cap-bearings of the top roll, E. Their upper ends are provided with gear-wheels meshing with the spiral pinionsOandO upon p ressure-water alternately above and below the piston in the hydraulic cylinder. To operate upon the upset bar, the rolls are. closed to a point slightly in excess of the thickness re quired. The upset end of the bar is'pressed against the rolls and is drawn through by their rotation. The rolls are then further closed to the required thickness, their motion is reversed, and the bar is carried back-and out of the rolls 'a finished product. The above is the usual practice; but, when required, the thickness of the eye may be increased above that of the bar or it may be decreased below it by increasing or decreasing the th ckness of the shaping cheek-pieces and shaping upsetting-plunger, as will be well understood by a skillful workman. V I

The rolls shown and described herein are operated by hydraulic power and are reversible, so as to roll in either direction, as that is more convenient in conjunction with the other hydraulic machinery employed; but a pair of rolls operated by steam or other power, and running always in the same direction, may be used, for which purpose it is only necessary that they should be arranged to open and close conveniently. Such last-mentioned rolls may be closed to the proper distance and the bar to be rolled may be presented so as to be drawn in, or the rolls may be open so as to admit the bar beyond the upset portion, and then by closing them tothe desired thickness the bar will be rolled out of the rolls, all of which will be readily understood by a skilled workman. t

In the hereinbefore-describcd process for the manufacture of steel eye-bars time is an important element in obtaining the quality, and

the advantage which rolling possesses over than for steel bars, and, after upsetting, the .bar is reheated to a welding heat.

It is then transferred to the flattening-machine, as in the before mentioned Patent No. 276,291, after which it is rolled, as herein described, which brings the eye more nearly to a uniform thickness than can be done by the flatteningmachine, which heretofore has finished the operation.

The preliminary distortion of the flat bar may be effected in a variety of ways. The ob ject of the distortion is to give such flat bars additional guiding-lines longitudinally with out restricting the bar from spreading laterally under the upsetting-pressure, and any form of surface transversely other than a plane will answer this purpose. The upsetting dies themselves may be formed with curved surfaces, or they may be angular, so that they will distort the flat bar in the act of closing with out using the distorting-bar which I have shown and described, and I have used such dies; but they are more complex to construct than the flat die, and they involve a like complexity in the upsettingplunger, with more extensive changes to suit different sizes of bars and eyes. I contemplate using such shaped dies, however, whenever the character of the work may render it desirable to do so.

In practicing the art of upsetting I discovered that with flat eyebars the pressure required for npsettingincreased rapidly after the diameter of the eye exceeded eight times its thickness. In almost every instance the eyes required exceed this proportion, so that the pressure is largely in excess of that which might be employed were the upset thicker. Moreover, when the upset is thick in proportion to its width, there being less pressure, there is less tendency to bend the bar laterally, and I discovered that when several flat bars of the ordinary proportion were piled together, so that the thickness of the pile was greater than one-eighth the diameter of the eye, the upset could be'made between plain dies without bending any of the bars laterally, whereas none of these bars, when taken singly, could be upset to the same diameter of eye in the same dies without bending laterally so much as to render the upset useless for an eyebar. This discovery was exceedingly important, not only because it enabled me to upset two bars in the same time theretofore required for one with less pressure than might be required for one, while avoiding the liability to bend the bar laterally, but because it enabled me to spread thin bars to a diameter of eye not heretofore attainable by upsetting alone at any pressure. To practice this part of my improvements, the bars, after the proper length has been heated to the requisite temperature, are piled upon each other within spreadingdies, so that the flat sides of the bars will be parallel to the plane of the upset. The thickness of the pile is preferably such that when the closing-pressure is applied to the dies they will close upon the shaping cheek-pieces and the pile of bars at the same time; but the pile may be either thicker or thinner than the cheelopieccs, if desired. The thickness of the upset is determined by the distance between the upsetting-dies; but to avoid a fin the upsetting dies should close upon the shaping cheek-pieces, so that if the pile is thicker than the chcekpieees the closing-pressure should reduce it to that of the cheek-pieces.

The bars may be heated separately or they may be piled in the heating-furnace, as they will be in the spreadiugdim. In either case care must be taken to have them of uniform temperature; otherwise after the upset pile has been separated into the bars composing it the bars may be found to have varied in thickness. After the heated pile has been placed within the spreading-dies and these dies closed, the upsetting-pressure is applied and the pile is upset and shaped as a single bar. After this operation has been completed, the pile is removedfrom the machine and sepa rated into the bars which composed it. These bars, if of steel, may then be transferred separately and consecutively to the flatter to be punched and to the rolls to be straightened and reduced in thickness to the required dimension; but if they are of iron they should be first transferred to the heatingfnrnace to be heated to a welding heat, after which they .are taken to the flatter to be welded and punched and from thence to the rolls.

It is probable that fiat bars very wide in proportion to their thickness might be piled and upset, as before described, without bending laterally when the thickness of the pile was less than one-eighth of the diameter of the eye, but the pressure required would be increased with so thin a pile, and itis not desirable on that account to use a thin pile; but I do not limit my invention to the thickness of the pile.

By upset-ting the bars in dies provided with a lateral outlet for the surplus metal I am enabled to take bars cut to length as close as the rolling-mill practice permits, forgo the eyes at uniform distances apart, andcut off the surplus metal after the amount of it has been determined by the forging operation, thereby avoiding the delay as well as the liability to error in cutting the bars to the proper length, as heretofore required, in advance of the forging operation. The edges of the eyes from which this surplus metal has been cut present a distinctly different surface from that formed by the shaping chcelepieces or by the flattening die, or by any forging operation, which difference is sufficient to clearly distinguish such bars from those forged by any process heretofore used.

Having thus described the objects and nature of myinventiomwhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A spreading-die which determines the thickness of the upset, in combination with shaping cheek-pieces and a shaping upsetting plunger which shape the edges of the upset and provide'alateral outlet for surplus metal, substantiallyas described.

2. A spreading-die which. supports the bar IIO in three or more lines, in combination with shaping cheek-pieces and a shaping upsettingplunger which shape the edges ofthe upset and provide a lateral outlet for surplus metal, substantially as described.

3. Thehereinbefore-described improvement in the art of upsetting and shaping metal bars, which improvement consists in firstheating so much of the bar as is to be operated upon to the required temperature, then distorting this heated portion,so that a flat side thereof shall be curved or otherwise provided with addi- 5. Thehereinbefore-describedimprovementin the art of upsetting and shaping metal bars, which improvement consists in heating so much of two or more flat bars as is to be operated upon to the required temperature, then placing this heated portion of the bars in a pile within spreading-dies, the flat sides of the bar parallel to the plane of the upset, then closing the spreadingdies and upsetting the pile, and then separating the pileinto the bars which formed it.

6. A wrought-iron or a steel eye-bar made by forging the eyes in a spreading-die,which determines the thickness of the upset, in con junction with shaping cheek-pieces and a shaping upsetting-plunger which shape the edges of the upset and provide a lateral outlet for surplus metal, substantially as and for the purposes described.

GEO. H. SELLERS.

\Vitncsses:

HoRAcE W. SELLERS, JOHN L. PHILLIPS. 

